


Cost of Catastrophe

by SaberK



Series: Ki's 007 Fest 2019 [5]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending - SPECTRE, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Pining, SPECTRE Fix-It, Slow Burn, Torture, Vague depictions of violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 16:28:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19816102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaberK/pseuds/SaberK
Summary: "Are you ready to talk now?" They ask with a curious once over."I told you." Q swallows thickly. "I don't know what you're talking about."The man smiles, amused. "That's alright," he says congenially. "We've got time."Q isn’t quite lucky enough to get away when they come for him, alone and surrounded by oblivious strangers on a gondola in a country he has no business being in.





	Cost of Catastrophe

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for "Torture" on the Angst Prompt Table. That being said, proceed with caution. Vague/Implied depiction of waterboarding and physical violence ahead.

The room is dark when he comes to, a blur of moving shadows and vague smudges that he can't make out with eyes gone fuzzy without his glasses. Or maybe from the blood. Q isn't sure. 

One of the smudges moves forward, coming into the dim light, and Q squints in an attempt to see who. It's been someone different each time, he thinks, though he's lost track of faces after the first five.

"Finally awake then?"

Q blinks slowly. His tongue is heavy and dry, and it sticks to the roof of his mouth when he tries to speak. "Apparently."

"Are you ready to talk now?" They ask with a curious once over.

"I told you." Q swallows thickly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man smiles, amused. "That's alright," he says congenially. "We've got time." Q doesn't notice the bucket of water right away, nor the cloth sitting idly in the man's hands. He laughs shakily when he does.

"This is all very John Wick. Have you ever watched?"

"Can't say I have." The bucket screeches loudly when it's dragged closer.

"Me either," Q mumbles as a large hand leans his chair back.

Q doesn't scream.

He can't.

* * *

"Now?" The man asks later, when Q is gasping for air and vomiting up water with burning lungs.

He closes his eyes and takes a shuddering breath, dreading his answer. "No."

* * *

They move onto his feet next.

In the distance, someone is screaming.

Q doesn't realize it's him until his throat goes raw with it, and he chokes on a dry sob.

* * *

It's a woman this time, with wide eyes and a kind face as she bends forward and cups his face tenderly.

"This can all be over you know. All you have to do is tell us," she says softly.

It reminds him of Eve, drunk on wine that didn't cost nearly as much as the sleek car it was substituting for as she said, low and understanding, _"You don't always have to tell him yes._ " Q was the first to look away, reaching out and grabbing the bottle lying between them and taking a deep swig to have something to do that wasn't meeting her sympathetic gaze.

Q blinks. The woman is still in front of him, palms warm on his cheeks and thumbs sweeping reassuringly over the purpling bruises and deep slices that sit there.

He nods slowly, and she beams.

"I lied," he croaks once she's untied his ropes. "I did watch John Wick." Her face scrunches in confusion and Q wheezes a laugh. "You could learn a thing or two."

She jerks him roughly. He hits the floor with a crack, stumbling on sliced soles and slipping on the blood soaked at the bottom of his feet.

She crouches low, face levelled with his own as she lifts his chin. "Do you think he'll come for you?" She asks curiously.

The glass floor is cool beneath his palms — no sunlight peeking through yet to make it otherwise — and he draws lazy swirls with his fingers, leaves smudges of red everywhere he touches. He's close to blacking out, eyes already going dark at the edges.

Q's smile is bloody

"No." 

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell I've read over that [deleted script](https://sufferingcity.tumblr.com/post/132054439125/important-things-from-the-first-draft-script-of) from Spectre too much? 
> 
> If you like, drop by on [tumblr](https://shadow-in-the-light.tumblr.com/). Fest is still going strong!
> 
> Also this has nothing to do with my fic but if you want to see some amazing art of the deleted script go check it out [here](https://brilcrist.tumblr.com/post/133825020909/quartermaster-first-kill-part-i-based-on-this), [here](https://brilcrist.tumblr.com/post/134270080279/part-ii-from-spectre-deleted-script-part-i), and [here](https://brilcrist.tumblr.com/post/135180887639/part-iii-from-spectre-deleted-script-im-too-lazy)


End file.
